


Padawan

by Antares_Starfire



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:28:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25997518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Antares_Starfire/pseuds/Antares_Starfire
Summary: As the New Republic struggles to contain and eliminate the last remnants of the supporters of the old Galactic Empire, a string of disappearances attract the attention of the newborn Jedi Order. Jedi Knight Rosh Pennin is sent to investigate...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A new story to get me back into writing. It will be my version of the Sequels, basically. I won't get into a fight about the new movies. I personally did not enjoy them at all, but I respect the preference of those who did. Please allow me the same courtesy.
> 
> I will be trying to bring the old cannon into this one, as well as te extended Universe. Characters from the Jedi Knight games feature proeminently. The story will focus on the path to becoming a Jedi, the philosophy behind the Order, and the struggles of it's characters.
> 
> As always I welcome reviews and constructive criticism. I was never the best of writers and chances are, after all this time I have become even worse. Bear with me and give the story a chance, if you like.

It is a time of uncertainty. The New Republic

takes its first steps towards securing its place in the galaxy.

Senator Mon Mothma has been voted the new

Chancellor of the republic. Her fist order of business: to

erase the last remnants of the evil Galactic Empire.

Meanwhile, on the moon of Yavin 4,

Jedi Master Luke Skywalker has established his

Jedi Praxeum, the temple where the new generation

of jedi shall be taught. Master Skywalker’s budding

Jedi force has been enlisted in

helping the New Republic find and defang the

loyalists to Palpatine’s Empire.

To complicate matters, stories of people

disappearing are starting to spread.

Worried about the kidnappings,

Jedi Knight Rosh Pennin follows the evidence

and makes his way to

the planet Jakku to investigate rumors of

an illegal fighting arena…


	2. Chapter 2

Rosh Penin grabbed the edge of the cockpit and, with a practiced movement, swung his legs over the nose of the ship and landed smoothly on the ground. The desert immediately battered his body with abrasive heat and dry wind with a touch of sand. The uncomfortable warmth was made all the more noticeable by the furnaces that were the cooling openings on the engines of his X-wing although, fortunately, one did not stand on the exit side of the coolers when exiting a ship like his.

He took a look around, using his hand as a makeshift sunshield.

All around him, as far as the eye could see, the desert dunes of Jakku dominated the setting. Far to the west he could see the shadowed colors and geometric shapes that signaled the existence of a haphazardly built settlement. He'd landed at quite a distance from the nearest form of civilization but that had been a calculated risk on his part: it reduced the chances of settlers of ill-repute trying to gain entrance to his ship. Or take it apart for scraps, really, which was the most probable alternative, in this place.

He called it settlement but he knew the place was more like a mix of slave camp, scrap yard and illegal entertainment ground. The deserts of Jakku had quite a bit of downed ships engulfed in their sands, courtesy of the engagements between the then Rebel Alliance and Galactic Empire and the New Republic had recently (finally) made the decision to turn those derelict ships into actual useful scraps. They hadn't wanted to, Rosh knew. He'd been privy to several discussions, usually initiated by his own Master, on the waste that it was to not make use of the half destroyed Star Destroyers merely because they had been part of the Empire military force. Kyle Katarn had never had many filters in his mouth and even less patience for political shortsightedness. The Empire had been many things, most of them terrible, but wasteful had not been one of them. The then newly appointed Emperor had wasted no time scrapping and repurposing the Old Republic ships and Rosh's old master hadn't seen the reason for the New Republic to not be similarly practical.

He agrees.

Landing so far out had another advantage too: people would be less inclined to notice him which, considering he was here on the trail of a kidnapper, is a good thing. People were a lot less likely to openly talk about the seedy underbelly of society to a Jedi than they are to a fellow wanderer at the bar, after all.

He closed his eyes, felt the glare of Jakku's sun on his head and took a breath.

Slowly, calmly, like waves in a rising tide, the Force surrounded him. He could feel life everywhere, plants under the soil, waiting for the rare rise in humidity that would enable their growth, the lumbering beasts that were sure to be krayt dragons (fortunately) far in the distance, much farther than the mass of emotions that he knew to be Niima outpost.

A flurry of desperation, of _need_. It was not the Dark Side, not really. Though harsh environments such as these often gave birth to Dark Side nexuses. But it was the struggle of life against an uncaring Universe. The drive to survive. He felt the old familiar tug and ignored it with a practiced exercise of will. Dark side, Light side, all facets of the Force. Not to be feared, not to be idolized.

It is not your powers that define who you are. It's how you use them.

So Master Katarn liked to say.

He concentrated further on the mess of emotion that was Niima Outpost. Past the normal bustle and hustle of beings fighting for survival in a harsh world, there was definitely something else there. Something harsher, perverse. Definitely Dark, though its exact nature was eluding him. It was clear that a closer approach would be needed.

He climbed back to the nose of his X-wing and fiddled with the controls in the cockpit. A couple of entries into the main computer and assured him he would not have to worry about the safety of the ship. Should anything happen it would take off on its own and settle on a high orbit around the planet. With the engines off it would be practically undetectable to anyone that was not sitting right on top of it.

The lid closed as he stepped back down and cleaned his sweaty palms against the rough fabric of the cloak he's dragged out of the ship. In deserts such as these, more clothes were actually better against the overwhelming heat. Plus it would make it easier to conceal his identity should he need to.

Rosh gave a pat on the nose of his X-wing, a sentimental gesture that he developed over the years, Force knows why. Then he took off, keeping a sure pace towards Niima Outpost.

* * *

One of the first places he always visited, when on these sorts of trailing missions, was the local bar or cantina. Cantinas and bars generally provided some measure of comfort and relative safety, especially on harsh worlds like this one, where the mere sunlight seemed bent on killing you, so all kinds of patrons flocked to them. The grand mix of individuals also meant that rumors and stories got thrown around without control, so it was the perfect place to start an investigation – unless you already had an informer.

Rosh did not have an informer and, unfortunately, was coming to the realization that Niima Outpost was even more backwater than he expected for a junk yard in the middle of a forsaken planet.

There was no such thing as a Cantina around here. People came in, did their business, traded their scraps for payment and then traded the payment for food, medicine or whatever they could afford to make it through the day. There was a counter, built on the side of a ship's hull, that handled the trading of the scrap from the salvagers into food rations and platinum chips. Small platinum chips. Very small. He had been sitting there for two hours and had yet to see a transaction that did not shortchange the scavenger coming in with the scrap.

The only sign of opulence in this whole place was the stone palace that rose off to the side of the settlement. Isolated both in placement and by tall walls, as if the sentients inside wanted to make clear they wanted nothing to do with the filth of the outpost. An amusing notion, he thought, given that he was pretty sure that was the residence of Niima, the Hutt after which the outpost is named. The Hutts had enjoyed a larger freedom under the Empire than they had with the Old Republic, by all accounts, but Emperor Palpatine was still burning in the wreckage of the second Death Star when the Hutt Enclaves contacted the New Republic with a new business proposal. Hutts were greedy, amoral and interested only in their own prosperity, but they were quick to take action, once a situation changed. Better to make some concessions now, than to risk greater financial damages later. And so it was that Niima saw his application for overseeing the salvage operations on Jakku approved by the New Republic – after some greasing of palms to facilitate the process, he was sure.

Some things never changed.

He supposed he'd better check it out. Wait for nighttime and sneak in somehow. It would be difficult to investigate the place while the locals were up and about. Plus he had spotted an interesting curiosity: for the past hour and a half, almost as soon as he set foot in the outpost, he had been trailed. It had taken him a while to figure out who it was, and it taken slightly longer to understand why.

It was a child. A small human female looking no older than twelve, at most. She was dirty, of course, but then all of the locals are. He had realized he stood out just by virtue of having a cloak that was not made of rags. Her skin was darkened by a lifetime in the desert. He was sure she was a scavenger, because he had seen her trade her scraps for some baked dough that she had eaten happily enough – all the while keeping an eye on him. There was a subtle wrap of the Force around her. It made people's attention just slip away from the little girl, pay her no mind, think she was unworthy of their time. The clerk at the counter had been even curter with her than he had with the other scrappers and that was including children.

Someone had wrapped this girl in a Force cloak, hiding her. For protection? Or to make it easier for her to slip into places? Maybe make it simpler for the girl to rob some unaware sap. Either way it was an interesting mystery and Rosh intended to get to the bottom of it. He did not really have anything else to do, in the next few hours.

And she had noticed him as well. She had been trailing him. He had played a simple game of catch and she had always managed to keep up with him. The Force was strong with her. Maybe she had been the one to weave the cloaking, herself?

Might as well find out.

* * *

Rosh looked down from his vantage spot, at the top of the modest stone ravine the kid had run towards. She'd led him on a merry chase through most of the settlement, doing a decent job of changing tracks randomly and merging with the small crowd of wanderers that populated Niima outpost. Honestly, if it hadn't been for the Force he probably would have lost her. Astounding, her survival skills, but not really unexpected. Most children in the outskirts of the galactic power, Empire or Republic, had to acquire those skills if they wanted to survive.

He watched as the girl breathlessly approached the cliff side, then took shelter under the shade. He'd given her a hard time in the last few stretches of the pursuit, before disappearing and giving the impression of having lost her. He half-expected her to lead him to her home, but he guessed she was too cautious for that.

It was better to confront her now, before she got enough of her breath to run away again.

He jumped down, landing right in front of her, cutting of her immediate escape path. The Force definitely favored her. His feet had barely left the ground and her head had already been moving up to meet him. Unfortunately, she had not had the presence of mind to start moving right away or he might have had a harder time surprising her. Not enough to prevent him from stopping her, though.

"Hello there!"

The kid let out a squeak and scrambled backwards against the stone. Rosh lifted his hands in a calming motion.

"Hey, it's alright!" he said, "You're not in trouble."

The girl looked at him and then at the desert expanse behind them, obviously trying to find a way to escape. Having failed to secure a means of escape, she instead asked:

"How did you do that?"

It was the first time Rosh really hear her speak. It was high pitched like a kid's, of course, but soft. However, there was an underlaying grating in her voice that made it clear that this was a kid not used to speaking very often.

"Do what?" he asked, amused.

"You jumped from the top and didn't break your legs!"

It was true. He wondered if he should have kept a lower profile, instead of blatantly doing something that spectacular. Still, he had a feeling it would be alright. Kids made up stories all the time, after all, and he sensed honesty would serve him well here.

"I'm a Jedi." He said, puffing his chest a little and then immediately deflating at her next words.

"What's a Jedi?"

Rosh looked around while searching for words. So far no one seemed to be giving them any undue attention. Chances were people here just did not care what happened to a little kid nobody knew.

"I am part of an Order." He started, "You know what an 'order' is?"

The kid rolled her eyes and huffed a bit. Rosh internally crowed at the reaction.

"Of course, I know. I'm not a kid."

Rosh made a show of putting on a dubious face, trying to get further rises from her.

"Clearly." He said flatly, "You must be what? Ten?"

"I'm almost 13!" she exclaimed in outrage.

"Oh, my bad, that makes all the difference! Peace, peace!" he exclaimed, seeing her gearing up for a fight, "I'm just messing with you." He looked at her, "I'm part of the Jedi Order. We're a group of people committed to protecting the galaxy and fighting evil."

She frowned, "So you're police?"

"In a way. But we're not beholden to the Republic. Or any government, really. We work independently."

She frowned some more and her manner became a bit uneasy, "So you're mercenaries, then?"

Rosh smiled, "No. We don't get paid by anyone."

"Then I don't get it. Why do something if you don't get anything out of it?" She admitted, relaxing again.

"Because the Galaxy's a dark place. And we like to imagine a place where kids don't have to grow up alone in the desert." I said, softly.

That touched her, he knew. Her emotions rippled under the surface, but her face remained as unperturbed as before. Tough kid.

There was lull in the conversation where the only sound was the sand shifting around them. Rosh kept his eyes locked with the girl's brown irises.

"You still didn't tell me how you managed to jump that." She said.

"First tell me why you were following me for the better part of the day."

"I asked first!"

"An answer for an answer." He shot back, smiling at her.

The girl glared at him, before shrugging and admitting, almost as if embarrassed, "You looked different. No one has clothes like that around here – I thought you might be someone coming to visit Niima, the Hutt. You were interesting."

He knew the cloak was too fine for Jakku!

"And you thought maybe you could pilfer something nice from my purse?" he guessed, even as his feelings told him this was not it. The girl shook her head and mumbled something, "What's that?"

"There's no point in trying to take anything nice when you can't keep it." She admitted with a slight blush, "The people around here… kids like me, there's no point getting nice stuff. The adults just take it for themselves."

She shut up, evidently feeling uncomfortable with what she had revealed.

It was a sad situation and one that even he, with the Force at his call couldn't really solve. Once upon a time he would have tried, he knew. Tried to cow the scrappers into treating the kids better, maybe even attempt an assassination of the Hutt. He knew better now. Such courses of action would only lead to backlash or power vacuums that would only leave the children in a worse situation in the long run. The Force was not a miracle cure all end all for the galaxy's problems. And he knew that behind the easy, speedy results was a need to see his actions validated more than the need for actual justice. Hubris.

And it seemed that what had stayed this kid's hand had also not been some sense of altruism but rather the knowledge that she would end up gaining nothing from the risk of stealing from him. Well, at least she was smart enough to weight the pros and cons of her actions.

"So?" he heard her ask impatiently.

"What?"

"How did you jump that? I answered your question!" she demanded.

"I used the Force." He said simply.

"What does that mean?" she insisted, clearly frustrated, "if I could do that, I could easily escape the other scrappers. Turn in more scrap for food!"

So she did _not_ know how to use the Force. That was interesting. The Force cloak must have been applied by someone else then.

"It means what it means." He said cryptically, knowing it would infuriate her, but unwilling to go into too much detail. He knew firsthand how much damage empowering people with the Force without the proper training could do. He still remembered the Disciples of Ragnos. "It's not something that you can be taught to someone in the blink of an eye. And there are dangers associated with it. Greater than simply getting your food stolen by scrappers. It takes years to be able to use it properly."

"I could die from not eating."

"If you misuse the Force, it won't be just you dying. But hundreds, perhaps even thousands more." He said, not bulging an inch.

The girl looked at him askance, clearly not believing him.

"Can't be that hard if you're using it." She mumbled, "You're not that older than I am."

"I'm almost thirty." He stated, amused by her surly stubbornness.

"No way!"

"Yes way!" he confirmed, "and I'm a Jedi Knight. That means I finished my training and am now authorized to go off into the galaxy on my own."

She took a moment to digest what he said.

"So, what are you doing here? You wouldn't come here just for the Hutt. No one does. Are you here to beat the scrappers into order?" she asked. It was amazing to Rosh how she could be so insightful one moment and so childish the next. But he supposed it was expected.

"Do you really have that much trouble with the other scrappers?" he asked, curious. The Force cloak he had sensed should have made her basically a non-factor in the outpost society.

The girl shrugged again, "Not that much, anymore. They generally leave me alone. No one talks to me really." She frowned, as if she were considering how odd that was for the first time.

"Was it always like that?"

"I don't know." She answered, shrugging a bit helplessly, "a couple years ago, I guess."

"Have you always lived alone?"

She lifted her head to look at him, as if suddenly remembering something.

"I thought this was supposed to be answer for answer."

"Ask away, then." He said with a smile.

There was another short silence. Rosh could feel the indecision rumbling below the surface as the girl struggled to decide whether or not to ask what was on her mind. He thought he knew what it was.

"Could I become a Jedi?" she asked, awkwardly.

He almost smiled at correctly guessing her thoughts but caught himself in time to prevent it. It was better to take these things seriously. He stayed silent for a moment as he considered her question. The Force seemed to favor her, that was obvious. With proper training she could become a competent Jedi, he was certain of it. The problem was the Force cloak. Its existence told him someone had already taken an interest in the child and he was not sure if it was acceptable to call attention to the Academy by taking her with him. Not to mention taking her to the Jedi Temple for training would mean a detour that could make him lose the trail of the kidnapper, assuming he did not find him or her on Jakku.

"Maybe." He said, uncommitting, "there are a few tests that we'd have to do, to see if you have the aptitude. The Force flows through everyone, but not all people can use it. Most of them can't, in fact." He admitted. "Why? Are you interested in becoming a Jedi? Fifteen minutes ago, you didn't even know what we were."

The girl shrugged again, "It has to be better than this."

"This?"

"This!" she explained, waving her arms around to engulf the desert surrounding them, "Anything has to be better than scrapping on this desert. Would I get full meals every day?" she asked eagerly.

Rosh considered her. He understood where she was coming from, he truly did. His own childhood had not been a pleasant one. But exactly because of that, he also knew the dangers she would be in, mostly from herself.

"You need a firmer commitment than that." He told her bluntly, "The path to becoming a Jedi is not easy, nor pleasant."

"I can do hard stuff!"

"Can you?" he asked, more seriously, "It takes focus, commitment. You will have to do lots of things you find useless or worse, _boring_. Study, read, discuss. It's not all action and adventure. You don't get to whip out your lightsaber and start dispensing _justice_ on a whim."

"What's a lightsaber?" She asked, curious.

"Never mind." He backtracked, having momentarily forgotten she had not even known what a Jedi was up until a few moments before. "But do you get what I am saying? You will be dedicating your time, your _life_ , to peace, to the well-being of everyone else. That's selflessness of the highest order. Simply wanting to be a Jedi just because it's better than this does not cut it, regardless of your abilities."

The girl stayed quiet for a time and then turned her back to him. After a little bit he hear her mutter something.

"Speak up!" he demanded, sensing she was on the verge of something.

"I said… I would also like to live in a galaxy where kids don't have to grow up alone."

He smiled. She was sincere, he knew that. But sometimes people needed to hear themselves commit to things. Admit to care. It was an oath of its own.

"Hmmm." He hummed, schooling his face into neutrality as she turned back around to him, "maybe you do have the makings of a Jedi in you."

The kid's eyes widened in excitement, "You mean I could?"

"I don't know." He said, raising his hands and motioning for her to calm down, "We have to test you first. And keep in mind, even if you have the ability, you can still fail to become a full Jedi. Nothing is certain in this galaxy."

"I can still try!"

"Perhaps. But are you really that ready to leave your entire life behind based on a possibility raised by a stranger you do not even know the name of?"

She startled, at this.

"Ah!"

Rosh smiled and thrust his hand forward for a shake.

"Rosh Penin, Jedi Knight. Nice to meat you, miss…?"

"Rey!" she said, happily grabbing his hand. It dwarfed hers although her skin was hardened enough by years of harsh living in the desert that it would not be out of place amid the callused hands of a Jedi.

"Just Rey?" he insisted, "No parent's names?"

The newly revealed Rey nodded her head. "I don't remember much of my parents. My mom had yellow hair, I think. My dad was skinny and had a sad face."

"We call people with yellow hair blondes." Rosh informed her, before asking in a more considerate way, "What happened to them? Your parents?"

"I don't know." She admitted, a tad more subdued. It was obviously a subject that carried its share of bitterness within her, "They left one day for foraging, as usual, and didn't come back. I used to think they would one day return and take me away from here, but they probably just died in the desert, attacked by some krayt dragon…"

It was disturbing and sad to hear the matter-of-fact resignation in such a young kid's voice.

"Then you lived alone, all these years?"

She shook her head, "No. An old lady took care of me until a few years ago, but she also left one day. I think that was around the time everyone stopped talking to me. Maybe they thought I was cursed. I'm not cursed, am I?" she asked, looking at him with wide eyes.

"No, I don't believe so." He answered, slightly amused. Still, it was an interesting tidbit of information. It stood to reason that the "old lady" had probably been the one to place the Force cloak on her. For what purpose they would probably not know unless they encountered them in person.

"So?" the anxiety was patent in Rey's voice.

"So what?" Rosh asked, confused.

"Are you going to test me?" she demanded urgently.

"Oh. No." he said, watching her deflate, "Not yet. I have other business to attend to, first. I didn't come here to test prospective students, you know." He said a bit sardonically.

"What did you come here to do?" she asked, curiosity patent in her voice.

"Jedi business." He answered, unable to stop himself from letting out a bark of laughter at the face she made, "I am tracking a dangerous person." He compromised, to keep her from getting angry, "I followed them here to Niima outpost, but am unsure where they went."

"Oh." She said, "I probably noticed him if he's new. What does he look like?"

"I don't know." Josh admitted, "I'm not even sure if they're male or female."

"Then how do you know they came here?" Rey asked, clearly confused.

"I followed a tracker beacon I stuck to their ship as they fled." He explained, "It stopped transmitting just before I made de jump to Jakku. It's possible they're not here anymore." He admitted, "but I suspect they at least met with Niima, the Hut, or at least passed through is residence."

"Good luck getting the guards to let you through." Rey grumbled, "They never let anyone through."

"Oh, I'm not going to talk to the guards." Rosh said, cheerfully.

"Then how will you see Niima? He never leaves his house!"

"I'll break in, of course." He said easily, "I'll scout out the place tonight, look for an entrance point."

Rey looked at him for a few moments before smirking.

"What?" he asked, feeling curiously wary of the expression in such a small child.

"I know of a way in."

"Huh, huh…" he said, "and you won't tell me unless?"

"Test me to see if I can be a Jedi and I'll take you to a secret entrance tonight!" she said excitedly.

"And how do I know you're not just trying to get me to test you?"

"We kids use it all the time to sneak into Niima's kitchens, whenever there's a tournament."

"Secret entrance? And a tournament?" he asked, interested. He had spotted something that looked suspiciously like an arena. Hutt's were notorious for their passion of dangerous and bloodthirsty competitions, especially if the blood being spilled was not their own.

"Test me and I'll show you!" Rey demanded, stubbornly.

"Fine." He capitulated, making a show of being annoyed but not really feeling it. "Do you have anywhere we can settle in peace for a few hours? It's gonna take a while."

She smiled, her face lighting up in childish glee.

"I'll show you my home!"


End file.
